Faso to seek Gibson's seat

Former assemblyman to become first candidate to officially enter 2016 race

By Matthew Hamilton

Published 12:42 am, Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Photo: Paul Buckowski

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Former Assemblymen John Faso, far left, and Richard Brodsky, far right, hold a debate at the Empire State Plaza Wednesday, March 23, 2011, in Albany, N.Y. Abe Lackman, center, the scholar in residence at Albany Law School, was the moderator of the debate and also the organizer of the event. The debate was sponsored by the Albany Law School and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union archive) less

Former Assemblymen John Faso, far left, and Richard Brodsky, far right, hold a debate at the Empire State Plaza Wednesday, March 23, 2011, in Albany, N.Y. Abe Lackman, center, the scholar in residence at Albany ... more

Photo: Paul Buckowski

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Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso answers a question during a debate with Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006. Former state assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate John Faso will announce his run for the seat on Tuesday morning at his Kinderhook home. (AP Photo/David Duprey) less

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso answers a question during a debate with Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006. Former state assemblyman ... more

Photo: DAVID DUPREY

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John J. Faso. Former state assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate John Faso will announce his run for the seat on Tuesday morning at his Kinderhook home. (James Goolsby/Times Union archive)

John J. Faso. Former state assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate John Faso will announce his run for the seat on Tuesday morning at his Kinderhook home. (James Goolsby/Times Union archive)

Photo: JAMES GOOLSBY

Faso to seek Gibson's seat

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Albany

The 2016 race for the 19th Congressional District seat is about to officially have its first candidate.

Former assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate John Faso will announce his run for the seat on Tuesday morning at his Kinderhook home.

He will seek the Republican line as Rep. Chris Gibson hangs it up at the end of next year. The popular GOP congressman announced at the beginning of this year his intention not to seek a fourth term. Gibson has since been pitched as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2018, though he's been more ambiguous with his intentions, saying he is focused on growing the Republican Party within New York.

Faso kept his platforms close to the vest in a brief phone interview Monday so as not to upstage Tuesday's unveiling of his candidacy. The 10:30 a.m. announcement will be the first of an announcement tour across the district, he said.

"I don't apologize for reading through budget bills while in the state Assembly — calling out and drawing attention to wasteful spending and fiscal gimmicks," Faso's biography on his campaign website states. "I'll do the same in Congress if you send me to Washington. In Albany I'm proud to have developed and pushed proposals that lead to real balanced budgets — including the first reduction in state spending in decades while closing a $5 billion deficit. I'm not ashamed to be called a fiscal conservative or 'tight-fisted!' After all, I learned the value of a dollar from my Mom and Dad."

Faso also focused on the economy in a video his campaign released Monday.

The announcement is not a surprise. It was revealed last week that the Faso campaign has scheduled a Fort Orange Club fundraiser for the end of the month. It comes shortly after Republican state Sen. Jim Seward said he won't run for the seat.

Republican Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin of Rensselaer County said he is weighing whether to run but has made no formal announcement.

Dutchess County businessman Andrew Heaney filed a statement of candidacy for the seat.

The 19th District leans Republican by about 7,000 active voters. Yet Gibson trounced his 2014 opponent, Democrat Sean Eldridge, by about 60,000 votes in 2014.

The expansive 11-county district includes a large piece of Rensselaer County, about half of Montgomery County and all of Columbia, Greene and Schoharie counties. It also reaches into the upper Hudson Valley and a small piece of the Southern Tier.